



UP & AWAY is a collaboration with Black & White Coffee Roasters. It's a half black, half white pressed (get it?) tea cake of Gedeng black tea and Banzhang white tea, made by Xiaohui Quan inXishuangbanna, Yunnan.
The black tea comes from Gedeng Mountain, one of the six ancient tea mountains east of the Lancang river. It's a medium-leaf ecological tea, fully oxidized to a deep, comforting warmth, smooth and harmonious with a steady backbone. The white tea is a different story: large-leaf Banzhang material, sun-dried and left raw and natural. It brings structural depth and a high, lasting sweetness to the finish.
The two are pressed into one cake by Xiaohui Quan, known to his team as "Brother Quan." He's a 35-year veteran of old-world Yunnan tea making who has spent his career making once-luxury teas accessible. The black tea anchors the cup, and the white tea lifts it. In the cup you'll find scuppernong grape, walnut and clover, and a clean confectioner sugar finish that lingers.
UP & AWAY comes as a 100 gram compressed disc of tea, a format with roots in Yunnan going back over a thousand years, originally designed for transport along the Tea Horse Road. To brew it, break off a portion (about 5 grams) using a tea knife. If you don’t have a tea knife, a butter knife, the back of a spoon, or any thin tool you can wedge into the edge of the cake will work. The leaves are intact and will open fully in hot water. Once broken off, brew it just like any loose leaf tea.
(use freshly boiled spring water)
modern, large format
[300 ml+ vessel —BOLI, large teapot]
4 grams — 200°F (93°C) — 2 minutes
traditional, small format
[150 ml- vessel —gaiwan, small teapot]
6 grams — 200°F (93°C) — 30 seconds
(rinse recommended)
* 5 seconds each additional steep